The more we simply make minimal accommodations to deal with a radically changed environment (even if the change was gradual), the more fragile we become... Businesses fall into the same trap, all the time. They stretch and stretch and stretch to accommodate a changed environment until they are too fragile, with no fall-back position, no redundant capacity. They become fragile, so they are catastrophically vulnerable to the first disruptive innovation, or the first unanticipated regulatory change.

He then invited readers to imagine what various industries would look like if they were designed today. Since I've recently been exploring a few real estate options, my mind immediately went to the role of real estate brokers.

Before I begin, let me first say that my intention is not to "attack" one profession, but rather to use a specific example to make a general point that applies to every industry: the only way to avoid becoming obsolete is to reinvent your role before the marketplace does it for you. Said another way, you need to disrupt your own industry.

When the concept of real estate brokers arose, there was no Internet. Brokers controlled all the information. From afar, it was impossible to know almost anything about a property. In addition, there were far fewer ways to advertise properties.

Last night, I spent an hour looking at properties in another state. To do this, I used Realtor.com, Trulia, Google's search engine and Street View, Zillow, local tax assessors' databases, and numerous web sites maintained by a wide range of brokers.

In 95% of the cases, the brokers' sites had the same information or less than the 3rd party sites. I could not find "exclusive" listings that one broker had and another did not. This, by the way, is a problem pervasive in most industries: how to make money when everyone has easy access to all information? (One answer is to use common information as your starting point, rather than as the be-all, end-all.)

In the event that one listing catches my eye and I call "my" broker, he will likely email me a link to the listing for that property, which I have already seen online. He will then offer to show me the property, and once that has happened he will begin the sometimes subtle and sometimes blatant process of nudging me to make a bid.

If I make a bid, then things will really get messy. In my experience, negotiating through brokers is the most inefficient and frustrating experience imaginable. By far, our best real estate experience was when we bought a house directly from the sellers.

I'd like to suggest that 95% of a broker's role could be handled better by well-designed technology systems. Bidding, for example, could be handled by an automated system that includes legally-binding documents that would be instantly accessible to each party's attorney. Ten years ago, I bought a boat on eBay and even then it was an easy and pleasurable experience.

Online bidding could enable buyers and sellers to learn much more about the others' interests and needs; in many cases brokers play games with such information, either holding it back or deliberately distorting it to better produce the outcomes they desire.

For example, I'd like all potential sellers to know that I can be extremely flexible with my closing dates, should they still need to find a new property to buy. It would be great if they knew that up to a certain price point I can be a cash buyer, and that the absolute most I can pay is X.

Likewise, it would be wonderful to know what is most important to the seller. For example, many sellers have horrible experiences because they accept the highest bids from buyers who turn out to be unqualified or unpredictable. If a seller is more interested in speed and certainty than getting the highest possible price, then buyers could construct a more attractive offer.

The hardest broker role to replace is the one that adds the least value: letting buyers into a property. For obvious reasons, sellers do not want strangers walking around their homes alone. But the role of opening the door could be handled by a person earning perhaps $15 an hour, rather than someone who will take $50,000 from a $1 million transaction.

The fact is that one thing keeps the broker's role alive today: the regulations that govern the real estate industry. Once upon a time they might have been designed to protect consumers, but today they mainly protect realtors.

If you are a broker, you have two choices. First, you can reject my point of view and defend the status quo; this should work for a few more years. Disruptive innovation always starts from the edges of an industry and right now it surrounds you, but has not yet penetrated the thicket of regulations intended to keep such innovation at bay.

Second, you can work to reinvent your role, which means figuring out new ways to add value in a world that is dramatically different than the one that existed when your role was designed. To do this, focus on things you can do that clients can't already do online... and remember that with every passing day clients can do more and more online.

Be obsessed with sharing information rather than hoarding it. This means taking far more initiative to collect and manage information, rather than simply using the same information everyone else has.

Be absolutely trustworthy, which - as Don Peppers would say - means doing the right thing proactively, rather than simply not lying, cheating and stealing.

Wipe the slate clean, and imagine that there are no real estate brokers yet. Find meaningful reasons to create and shape a middleman role that significantly benefits both buyers and sellers.

Bruce Kasanoff (Kasanoff.com) is a ghostwriter for social innovators and leading executives.